This application claims priority from, and incorporates by reference to, the entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-296321 filed on Nov. 8, 2004.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an access device for a data-holding body, such as a reader/writer module for IC cards, and to electronic equipment incorporating the access device. More specifically, the invention relates to a reader/writer module for IC cards having a reduced thickness and to electronic equipment incorporating the reader/writer module for IC cards. The equipment is not increased in the size as a result of using the IC card reader/writer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have been widely employed user authentication and electronic money using cards such as credit cards and services such as point cards. As such cards, there have heretofore been used magnetic cards having a magnetic stripe. However, the data recorded in the magnetic stripe can be erased by the application of an intense magnetic field and are, further, liable to be used without authorization by being read by a third person by using a magnetic reader.
There have further been widely used IC cards incorporating an IC therein and exposing terminals for connection to the input/output terminals of the IC on the surface of the cards to substitute for the magnetic cards. By using the card incorporating the IC, however, the data recorded in the IC must be read out by using a reader/writer of the contact type making it necessary to insert the IC card in the reader/writer and, hence, requiring a reading operation.
Therefore, it has been urged to provide a non-contact type IC card that need not be brought into contact with the reader/writer to substitute for the conventional magnetic cards and the IC cards of the contact type. The IC cards of the non-contact type are now available as commuter's tickets and prepaid tickets for railways and buses, and as prepaid electronic money which can be used at specified shops.
The non-contact type IC card contains an IC chip, a peripheral circuitry and a loop antenna, and works upon trapping very weak electromagnetic waves, from the reader/writer which is also equipped with an antenna, and sends the data recorded in the IC chip back to the reader/writer through the antenna. To further spread the use of the non-contact type IC cards, attempts have been made to incorporate the reader/writer for the non-contact type IC card in various electronic equipment such as a personal computer.
The non-contact type IC card has no connection terminal, and it is possible that a good communication cannot be accomplished depending upon the positional relationship between IC card and the reader/writer. Some conventional reader/writer modules use large antenna enabling the users to accomplish favorable communication without the need of giving much attention to the positioning between the IC card and the reader/writer module. In other cases, further, the electromagnetic output power is increased to accomplish good communication. In a reader/writer using a small antenna and suppressing the output power, further, attempts have been made to provide a rack for placing the IC card enabling the user to correctly position the IC card as employed in some convenience stores.
To accomplish favorable communication by using a loop antenna employed by the non-contact type IC cards, however, attention must be given not to arrange a metallic member that blocks the transmission/reception of electromagnetic waves on the upper and lower sides, on the right and left sides, or on the back of the antenna of the reader/writer. When it is necessary to arrange a metallic member just under the antenna of the reader/writer, a magnetic sheet must be inserted between the antenna and the metallic member.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-298095 discloses an example of sticking a flexible sheet-like magnetic body under the antenna coil or onto the back of the casing of the reader/writer for communicating the data with the IC card.
In the conventional reader/writer module for IC cards, the loop antenna is mounted on the substrate by means such as printing or adhesion, and a circuit component including the IC chip having memory for recording data is mounted by the side of the loop antenna. When it is necessary to arrange the reader/writer on a portion where a metallic member is arranged just under the loop antenna of the reader/writer, a magnetic sheet is stuck to the back surface of the substrate corresponding to the loop antenna to prevent the effect of the metallic member.
When it is attempted to employ a large antenna or to increase the output power, however, it becomes difficult to keep the size of the device small. According to the method of providing the housing with a rack for positioning the card, the rack could become an obstacle when the reader/writer is incorporated in a place on where the user usually puts his hand, such as a palm rest portion or the like of a notebook personal computer. When the reader/writer is incorporated in a small electronic equipment, further, it may become necessary to provide the magnetic sheet on the back surface of the antenna to suppress the interference with the metallic member causing an increase in the thickness of the reader/writer module and making it difficult to incorporate it in small electronic equipment.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an access device for data-holding body, such as a reader/writer module or IC cards, that can be easily mounted in small electronic equipment which cannot use a large antenna or to increase the output power, the access device not increasing in thickness despite of employing a magnetic sheet for suppressing interference with a metallic member.
Another object of the present invention is to provide electronic equipment incorporating the access device, which, when the user holds the data-holding body thereon, enables the user to visually recognize the position on the electronic equipment where the data-holding body is to be held, so that the data-holding body can be reliably guided onto the position.
In order to achieve the above objects, the access device for data-holding body of the invention has a function for reading a data-holding body that is accessible in a non-contacting manner and/or a function for writing thereon, comprising a magnetic layer provided on a predetermined region on one surface of the substrate of the device, an antenna supported on the magnetic layer, and a circuit component connected to the antenna on a region away from the magnetic layer on the substrate.
In the access device for the data-holding body, the antenna can be formed on the flexible circuit board so as to be arranged on the magnetic layer. Further, the magnetic layer mounting the antenna and the circuit component, can be mounted on the substrate being arranged side by side.
In electronic equipment incorporating the access device for data-holding body of the invention for achieving the above object, the access device in the data processor is incorporated in a housing constituting the equipment at a position where the data-holding body can be held.
In the electronic equipment, the housing of the electronic equipment of a portion where the access device is incorporated is evenly swollen in the shape of the data-holding body, such that the data-holding body can be placed thereon, and the access device is incorporated on the side of the back surface of the swollen portion. Further, the housing of the electronic equipment of the portion where the access device is incorporated may be marked to indicate the position where the data-holding body is to be held.
Further, the magnetic layer mounting the antenna of the access device can be positioned on a portion close to the edge of the housing, enabling the data-holding body to be accessible in a state where part of the data-holding body is positioned on the outer side of the housing. The electronic equipment may be a notebook computer.
Further, when the electronic equipment is a notebook computer, the swollen portion is provided on the palm rest portion neighboring the keyboard, and the height of the swollen portion is selected to be not larger than a step between the display of the computer and a frame portion surrounding the display.
According to the access device for the data-holding body of the present invention, the magnetic layer mounted on the substrate also works to support the antenna, making it possible to decrease the thickness of the access device and to simplify the mounting method and to improve the quality of communication. According to the electronic equipment incorporating the access device for data-holding body of the invention, the data-holding body possessed by a user can be visually and correctly guided to a position where the data-holding body is to be held.
The present invention will be more clearly understood from the description set forth below with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Before describing the preferred embodiments, an explanation will be given of the conventional IC card reader/writer shown in
When it is attempted to employ a large antenna or to increase the output power, however, it becomes difficult to keep the size of the device small. According to the method of providing the housing with a rack for positioning the card, the rack could become an obstacle when the reader/writer is incorporated in a place on where the user usually puts his hand, such as a palm rest portion or the like of a notebook personal computer. When the reader/writer is incorporated in a small electronic equipment, further, it may become necessary to provide the magnetic sheet on the back surface of the antenna to suppress the interference with the metallic member causing an increase in the thickness of the reader/writer module and making it difficult to incorporate it into small electronic equipment.
As shown in
The flexible circuit board 15 is provided with a terminal portion 15A forming a feeder terminal of the loop antenna 12, the terminal portion 15A being connected to the circuit component 13 as shown in
Then, as shown in
Therefore, the user of the IC card 5 simply places the IC card 5 on the swollen portion 22 formed on the upper surface 21A of the housing 21 of the electronic equipment 20 or holds the IC card 5 against the swollen portion 22 to exchange the data stored in the peripheral circuit 8 of the IC card 5 with the electronic equipment 20. Due to the action of the magnetic sheet 14 provided for the reader/writer module 10A of the IC card, further, the performance of the loop antenna 12 is not adversely affected even if the metallic member 23 happens to exist in the electronic equipment 20.
A height X of the swollen portion 32 from the palm rest portion 31A is smaller a height Y of the frame 39A of the display of the computer 30 from the screen 39B.
According to this constitution, the user who uses an IC card holds the IC card at the swollen portion 32 or places the IC card on the swollen portion 32 to enhance the recognition factor of the IC card.
In the thus constituted notebook computer 30, the reader/writer module 10 or 10A for IC cards of the present invention is attached by screws onto a metal frame 35 at four portions just under the swollen portion 32 of the housing 31. The position of the metal frame 35 in the lower housing 31L is indicated by a two-dot chain line.
In this embodiment, as will be understood from the drawing, when the reader/writer module 10 or 10A for IC cards is incorporated in the notebook computer 30, the optical disk drive 36 is positioned just under the reader/writer module 10 or 10A for IC cards, and the housing thereof is made of a metal. Even in this case, in the reader/writer module 10 or 10A for IC cards of the invention, the loop antenna 12 is supported by the magnetic sheet 14 and is arranged on the module substrate 11, and is not adversely affected by the metallic housing of the optical disk drive 36.
In this constitution, too, the user of the IC card 5 shown in
A position for holding up the IC card 5 is marked as designated at 38 on the palm rest portion 31A of the housing 31 of the notebook computer 30. The mark 38 does not represent the whole shape of the IC card 5 but represents the shape of a portion thereof.
As a result, as shown in
In this constitution, the user who uses the IC card 5 may hold up part of the IC card 5 aiming at the mark 38 without the need of placing the IC card 5 on the computer 30, to easily read and write the data from, and onto, the IC card 5 or to easily transmit the data from the IC card 5 to the computer 30.
Here, it can be contrived to form the module substrate 11 in a small size by omitting the module substrate 11 from the portion under the magnetic sheet 14. In this case, however, a new part is necessary for supporting the loop antenna 12, and screws must be used for securing a part for supporting the loop antenna 12. Further, screws are made of metal and can affect the communication. Therefore, the screw positions cannot be used for the antenna deteriorating the quality of communication. Therefore, this constitution is not desirable.
In the foregoing was described the embodiment of the present invention. The invention, however, may further be constituted in a manner as described below.
The above-mentioned module, which is the access device of the invention, has both a function for reading the IC card and a function for writing thereon. However, the module may have either the reading function or the writing function provided it is accessible to the data held by the IC card.
In the foregoing was described a card as the data-holding body accessible by the access device of the present invention. However, the access device of the invention may be the one accessible to a data-holding body other than the card. For example, the data-holding body that is accessible may not be in the form of a card but may be an electronic equipment (cell phone or small data terminal) incorporating the substrate mounting the above-mentioned loop antenna, IC chip and memory. The memory, too, may be the one that also works as an auxiliary storage unit that is usually used for the processing in the electronic equipment. Further, the IC chip, too, may be the one that also works as a CPU that is usually used for the processing in electronic equipment. The antenna is not limited to the loop antenna but may be the one of any other form provided it is accessible from the access device.
In the foregoing was exemplified the magnetic sheet as a magnetic layer provided on the substrate of the access device of the invention, which, however, may be in any form or in any kind, such as a plate or a jelly provided it is capable of supporting the antenna. Further, though a picture or an instruction was printed as the mark 37, a groove corresponding to the circumference of the data-holding body may be formed in the palm rest portion 31A so as to be corresponded to the portion where the reader/writer module 10 or 10A is incorporated.
In this constitution, too, the user of the IC card 5 may hold the IC card 5 at the recessed portion 37B or may place the IC card 5 in the recessed portion 37B to enhance the recognition factor of the IC card 5.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2004-296321 | Oct 2004 | JP | national |
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4960983 | Inoue | Oct 1990 | A |
5694139 | Saito et al. | Dec 1997 | A |
6646554 | Goff et al. | Nov 2003 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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38 24 870 | Apr 1989 | DE |
42 21 305 | Nov 1993 | DE |
695 26 699 | Dec 2002 | DE |
2001-229347 | Aug 2001 | JP |
2002-175551 | Jun 2002 | JP |
2002-298095 | Oct 2002 | JP |
WO 9221105 | Nov 1992 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20060076405 A1 | Apr 2006 | US |